"Internet Relay Chat (IRC) provides a way of communicating in real time with people from all over the world. It consists of various separate networks of IRC servers, machines that allow users to connect to IRC. IRC is very similar to text messaging, but designed around communicating with large groups of users instead of one-on-one." [ref]

LUG@UCLA's IRC channel can be found on the GIMPNet IRC network (channel is #lug). Feel free to join the channel and talk to us!

Installing an IRC client

Those IRC clients are also installed on the LUG servers. You can access the servers remotely via SSH.

Using an IRC client

To join the #lug channel on the irc.gimp.org (aka GIMPNet) network, follow the steps below for your corresponding IRC client:

xchat

start xchat, select GimpNet, then click connect

wait for the connection to complete (this may take up to 15 seconds), then join #lug

You may now chat with others in the channel.

irssi

start irssi in a terminal window: irssi

connect to a network: /connect irc.gimp.org

wait for the MOTD (this may take up to 15 seconds)

join a channel: /join #lug

You may now chat with others in the channel.

To leave the current channel, type: /leave

To leave all channels and quit, type: /quit

weechat

start weechat in a terminal window: weechat-curses

connect to a network: /connect irc.gimp.org

wait for the MOTD (this may take up to 15 seconds)

join a channel: /join #lug

You may now chat with others in the channel.

To leave the current channel, type: /buffer close

To leave all channels and quit, type: /quit

Persistent IRC

Keep your IRC session alive for long periods of time by using one of the following methods:

Virtual console method

Run your IRC client inside a virtual console (such as screen) on a server.

In the following example we use the LUG server, screen, and weechat-curses.

ssh into the LUG server: ssh user@linux.ucla.edu

start a virtual console named "IRC": screen -S IRC

start your IRC client: weechat-curses

connect to a server and join a channel (see above)

detach from the screen session by pressing ctrl+a then d

re-attach to the screen session by typing: screen -x IRC

repeat steps 5 and 6 as needed. Have a lot of fun!

Bouncer method

Run a bouncer (such as znc) on a server, and connect to it from your IRC client.

TODO

Other channels

IRC is an open standard, thus there are many independently operated IRC networks. Nearly every open source project has its own IRC channel(s) for user help or development chatter. Have a question about GNOME? Head over to the #gnome channel on irc.gimp.org. Have a question about Linux? Head over to #linux on irc.freenode.net. We cannot possibly list every channel and network, but here is a list of IRC search engines: